Last day of 2018 - Day 1650 (Year 5, Day 189)

Virginia Beach, VA

How we spent the last day of the year...  Mitch spent the first part of the day under the trailer again, still putting the finishing touches on the underpinning.  But then it started to rain, so he decided to tackle the toilet (again not holding water, so he had to take it apart).  He didn't put it back quite right which resulted in a small flood.  Fortunately, he caught it in time before it got much worse; it was only a puddle behind the bowl.  He just ran out to Home Depot for more supplies for the trailer.  He also spent a great deal of time on the Employ Florida website, signing up with their job postings site, taking numerous tests and applying for jobs. 

As for me, I put feelers out to all my RV peers in the 3 Facebook groups I belong to, asking for recommendations of places to stay in FL, under $600/month (I know - big ha ha, especially during the winter when all the snowbirds are down there).  One criteria is that it also needs to be within 15 miles of a shul, preferably Chabad.  So I have spent pretty much the entire day doing my due diligence.  I am now getting pretty disillusioned and don't believe we're meant to be in Florida.  I just wish I knew where we were meant to be!

Meanwhile, we still need to be out of here in 3 days.  Good chance the water pump will be replaced on Wednesday, but I think we'll still go down the road for a few days or a week or even 2.  There is way too much pressure to figure out where we're going next over 2 days.  Although, it would really be awesome to just hit the road and go without any sense of direction - just take the highway and see where it leads us.  But alas, I'm not that brave.  I need a plan.

So our plans for New Year's Eve is pretty much the same as always. We'll do Chinese takeout, and either watch tv or movies, or play Scrabble (which we planned to do for the past 3 years and didn't!) and hope that we can stay up to watch the ball drop, or at least stay up past 10:00!  Tomorrow - more of the same: working outside for Mitch and more research for me.

Happy New Year everyone!  I pray 2019 is far better than 2018!  I think 2018 pretty much sucked big time, except for our lovely vacation in November.

Next sub-chapter in our lives - Day 1646 (Year 5, Day 185)

Virginia Beach, VA

Mitch just got unexpected news that the company he has been working for just lost their entire east coast contract, and he is now officially unemployed.

We've always believed in Divine Providence and that things happen for a reason.  In fact, lately Mitch has been very disillusioned with his work and has been exploring how to get back into the IT field.  We believe this is a sign,, or rather, a PUSH, from above to do just that.

Next step is to figure out where to file unemployment -- where he's been working under this contract (VA) or our official address (FL) and then figure out where to move to next.  We were planning on leaving this campground next week to go to a place up the road, but now perhaps the entire country is wide open.  Or at least another place anywhere VA or (hopefully?) Florida.

Finally things to post on my blog!!!  Will keep you posted.

Christmas project - Day 1644 (Year 5, Day 183)

Virginia Beach, VA

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 25th, Christmas day (which we don't observe, being Jewish).  Mitch, however, is very grateful that he had yesterday and today off of work, as this is the third day he is working on this project (you can see his legs sticking out to the right of the steps, and all the building materials layout around.  I do feel really bad for him, being that he's on his back, on top of gravel & rocks, working in a tight space, in 40 degrees.

You may recall that for the last few months we reported about a leak underneath the trailer.  The bottom of the rig (the underpinning) contains a layer of heavy duty foamcore ("coroplast") and fiberglass insulation.  The leak had caused those layers to become very wet and sag, so the areas where that happened needed to be removed.

Unfortunately, we - along with the help of an RV tech - were not able to find the cause of the leak, as we couldn't locate the source and must be intermittent.  It was decided that for now, there's nothing we could do other than keep an eye on it.  However, since he took off the underpinning last month, there's been nothing underneath, which really doesn't help during these days when the temps are in the 30s and 40s (among other things, it provides insulation for warmth).

We are moving next week and realized it's probably dangerous to drive without the underpinning, especially within this campground where the roads are all dirt and gravel, which could get kicked up and hit something.  So it became critical to purchase the building materials and get underneath and replace it!  Today Mitch is on his 3rd day.  Hopefully he'll be finished by the time it gets dark!

Holiday lights - Day 1631 (Year 5, Day 170)

Virginia Beach, VA

Still nothing terribly exciting to report on lately.  Chanukkah has come and gone, although we did not attend any public lighting displays (there was one scheduled but we were warned that it was a very narrow street and there wouldn't be anywhere to park; people were encouraged to take a taxi to get there.  It wasn't worth spending $20).  Here is a photo of our display on the last night (it was actually arranged for entry into a photo contest; it's not how we had things set up during the holiday.  That's our tv/huge computer monitor in the back, and below is the fireplace).

There is also a large light show on the boardwalk, which we may or may not go to before the end of the month.  In the meantime, Mitch came across this house (actually, several houses) that had a synchronized light display, set to music that you listened to on a special radio station.  Here is a video of that.  It was really cool, and the video doesn't do it justice.  I think the light show on the Boardwalk will be very similar, so not sure yet if we want to spend the $15 to view it.

Interestingly, there aren't all that many holiday lights here in the campground; a few decorations and lights here and there but not a whole lot, which is sort of unusual.

We also plan to move to a different campground right after the new year.  It's the one we originally wanted but they didn't have space when we arrived in October.  We got a special promotional deal here but needed to stay 3 months ($530 versus $795).  But in January, it goes back up to $795 plus electricity, which is running about $150/month.  The other campground (1 mile down the road) is the same rate but electric is included so it makes more sense to go there instead.

Sorry, nothing -- Day 1618 (Year 5, Day 157)

Virginia Beach, VA

I haven't written for about a week, and sadly, I don't have anything interesting to report on. I still haven't had a chance to upload anything from our Jamaica vacation (and at this point, I'm not sure I ever will in the near future).  In the interim, nothing eventful has happened.

Honestly, I'm getting pretty tired and frustrated.  This is not the lifestyle I had hoped for.  On the one hand, we're both extremely grateful that we have a livelihood (although it's rough since one of my biggest clients is experiencing a huge slump so I'm down about 3/4 of my income), but we'd both really love to go where and when we want.  Virginia Beach at the moment is COLD -- got to below 32 degrees this a.m.  Naturally, this lifestyle so far has given us many more travel opportunities than we could ever had imagined, and we've had plenty of great memories. But we want to make more, and nowadays, it just "a day in the life."

We both need to work vigilantly to figure out a way that we can make a living on the road without being tied down to a specific location. Gotta be something we can create to resell, or some way to offer our services online.  That is what will take up our (my) time for the next few days/weeks.

Of course, any of my readers are welcome to post suggestions!

Return from Jamaica - Day 1610 (Year 5, Day 149)

Virginia Beach, VA

This will be a short post.  We returned from our wonderful trip to Jamaica last week (Tues. 11/13).  Didn't take as many photos as I would have hoped, and the ones we did take need to be downloaded or scanned.  Been pretty busy since then and haven't had the time to do so.  Eventually I'll write a post about this vacation.

Nothing eventful here in VAB since we returned.  We are now heading into the Thanksgiving weekend, with no plans whatsoever other than a nice meal between me and Mitch.  With any luck, we'll try to go out and do something fun this weekend (maybe the aquarium?)

Watch this space....

Update - Day 1594 (Year 5, Day 133)

Virginia Beach, VA

Once again, I wish I could say that we've done some exciting things since my last post 12 days ago, but alas...  unfortunately, this lifestyle is proving that although we do occasionally see and visit places of interest, for the most part, life is "a day in the life", with both of us working all week, observing the Sabbath on Saturdays so it's just a day of worship and relaxing, and then on Sundays, catching up on household chores and shopping.  Not a very exciting life at all.  Hopefully some day that can change.

One of the major things that has happened recently was a mass shooting in a synagogue in Pittsburgh.  That's something that hit very close to home in Jewish communities around the world.  Our shul commemorated the event this past Shabbat, with an invitation to the local community, including guest speakers, which included a Muslim imam (whom I found incredibly inspirational), a Catholic priest, a Christian pastor and the leader of an LGBTQ organization (who was transgender).  Overall, the message was how we as a nation need to combat hate and accept each other, despite our differences.  It was a very moving service and I almost felt hopeful for this country.

Yesterday (Sunday), the shul was hosting a "feed the homeless" program.  I was humbled to be able to participate with the food prep and serving.  It was good to also see a few other participating volunteer families bringing along their children (we used to do that many years ago when we lived in NJ).  It's so important to create a culture of helping others.

Election day is tomorrow, and political news has been the main focus of any and everything for the past month.  This world has become a very crazy, insane place and we can only hope that enough people will see the light and take action to change the course of things back to normal, whatever normal actually is.

Meanwhile, we leave in 2 days for our vacation and vow renewal in Jamaica.  Next post, I'm sure, will have all the photos and details about that trip.